Overview – Lightsaber Build

Designed a lightsaber with/for the nephew who drew up plans for The Space Porter all those years ago.

This post is more of a showcase than anything, as the electronics and parts list were developed and described quite well by Adafruit in their Lightsaber Prop-Maker RP2-2040 guide. Some changes were made to the internal construction and assembly (and obviously the aesthetics) for FDM printing.

Speaking of which…

Internal Construction

Internal components were designed from the ground up to secure the board and battery, as well as the activation switch. There are some nuts and bolts involved to hold everything together because I trust those a little more than press-fitting for something that will likely get whacked about frequently.

(Cat friend not included)

To improve strength and durability of the hilt, 1″ SDR21 Class 200 PSI PVC was used (thinner wall), with an FDM “sheath” over top for the sake of design. Threaded PVC adapters were also included (and modified) to allow for the blade to screw on and off as needed.

The one change to the electronics made was the addition of these quick connectors on the activation switch’s wires. At the lengths described in Adafruit’s guide, they kept pulling out of the connection points on the board.

Intent is to have screws secure the pommel and emitter components to the PVC components. Screws were included in delivery to my nephew, but not implemented. Similarly, the threaded adapter was not fully secured so he can paint or make whatever changes he needs to if he so chooses.

By this point, you may have noticed that the hilt strongly resembles a No. 2 pencil. That kid is one of the finest artists I know, so that was what I was aiming for in this draft. The lightsaber was given to him over the summer, and I’m looking forward to how he changes things up on it (if he chooses to go down that road – he did get an Ender 3 this past year).

Like what you’re seeing here? Leave me a comment down below, follow me on Mastodon @DragonMountainDesign@mastodon.social (I barely use it myself, to be honest though), and/or say “hey” if you ever see me or my work out around on the internet.

And yes, in a wild twist of events, I have a cat now. He showed up in my backyard a couple months after my dog passed away in 2023. We’ve been slowly bonding since then, and I realized he was my cat after we got him neutered/fully vaccinated earlier this year and all he wanted to do was snuggle me. Being allergic to cats, he unfortunately can’t stay in our house, and instead spends almost all his time either in our workshop, or the backyard.

He’s a sweetie, and great meme inspiration (y’all will see soon enough).